Nicolas Maduro and the Amazing Technicolor Dream-Windbreaker

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Last December, before heading to Cuba to undergo cancer treatment, the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez hand-picked Nicolas Maduro to succeed him. On Sunday, Maduro did just that, narrowly defeating a pro-business challenger by just 1.8 percent of the vote. Chavez's endorsement undoubtedly helped Maduro (as did some alleged dirty tricks), but the unsung hero of his victory is the yellow, red, and blue nylon jacket he wore while celebrating the win. Any Venezuelan will immediately recognize the pattern as the one found on their nation's flag. And they'll recognize the jacket as the one made famous by Chávez then lent to Sean Penn. So, even if they don't recognize Maduro's face, they know who he is.

Maduro knows the jacket's power, which is why he "constantly" wears it, according to Foreign Policy. It gives him the look of a regular man whose style stopped evolving in 1994, right about the time he started coaching Little League. During the campaign, it played into a larger narrative about the former-bus-driver-turned-union-leader who rose through the government to become Chávez's protege. And it worked.

It also got us thinking about an American politician using the same strategy. What would be the appropriate populist outfit for someone seeking this country's highest office? Current campaign attire lies somewhere between business casual and Liberty University kegger. Even in their most causal moments, American politicians are never without a collar. But there aren't even buttons on the shirts of salt of the earth Americans. Their pants don't have pleats and their shoes sure as hell aren't shiny. So how should an American presidential candidate dress if he's taking tips from Nicolas Maduro? Well, maybe kind of like this: